Your Guide to the Brooklyn Book Festival Bookend Events

The beginning of fall in Brooklyn means donning blazers, encountering pumpkin spiced everything, switching from iced coffee to hot coffee, and the all-week literary carnival that is the Brooklyn Book Festival. While the actual festival takes place on Sunday, September 21, the events that lead up to the day are as much fun as the day itself. So we present a guide to all the parties, readings, literary scavenger hunts (yup!), and other book-ish events on the week leading up to the official party.

Where/When? The Paper Box (17 Meadow St. in East Willamsburg) from 7:30 pm to 11:30 pm.

Other Things We’d Check Out: A free advanced screening of This Is Where I Leave You, the Jonathon Tropper film adaptation featuring Tina Fey, Jason Bateman, and Jane Fonda and a panel of n + 1 editors at BookCourt talking about the first ten years of the magazine.

What’s that about? Four writers from the African diaspora, including Brooklyn 20 pick poet Saeed Jones, read from their work and talk about African and African-American literature. It’s co-hosted by the excellent Franklin Park Reading Series, and the price of admission ($6) includes a beer.

What’s That About? What is sounds like: A scavenger hunt with literary clues, complete with bookish prizes. It’s an earlier event, so you can go scavenge and still have time to go to another event later.

What’s That About? A panel of writers, including Evan Hughes of Literary Brooklyn fame, novelist Yelena Akhtiorska (Panic in a Suitcase) and Mark Chiusano (Marine Park: Stories), talk about the challenges and delights about writing in and about Brooklyn. You can see why we might be biased towards this one.

What’s That About? The first: A big throwdown of independent publishers and magazines, from Electric Literature to Archipelago Books to Tin House, with free food and drinks. The second: Laurie Penny in conversation with Molly Crabapple and gender politics in the 21st century.

Where/When? The Indie Party is at Greenlight Bookstore in Fort Greene at 7:30; Laurie Penny and Molly Crabapple are at the PowerHouse Arena in DUMBO at 7:00 pm.